Map of Vermont

Vermont became the fourteenth state in 1791, fourteen years after declaring itself independent from the claims of New York. Vermont adopted its first constitution in 1777. Patterning its constitution after the radical document created by Pennsylvania, Vermont went even further, granting universal male suffrage and prohibiting slavery. Wary of power, the framers denied the veto to the governor and forced him to share executive duties with a twelve-man council. A unicameral assembly held legislative power.

The governor, lieutenant governor, and treasurer were chosen annually in general elections; they needed a majority to gain office. If there was no majority, the winner was chosen by the Joint Assembly (the House, or General Assembly, and the Executive Council). Freemen of each town selected their representative to the General Assembly annually. Members of the Executive Council were elected statewide. United States congressmen were voted on by district, with the exception of the years 1812–1820, when they were chosen statewide. United States senators were chosen by the Joint Assembly. The Council of Censors were the caretakers of the state constitution. Thirteen men, each elected statewide every seven years to a one-year term, were charged with examining legislation for constitutionality and with proposing appropriate amendments. The early years of statehood saw the old political factions of the Arlington Junto (Thomas Chittenden, the Allen brothers, and their followers) and their opponents fade as the Federalist and Democratic-Republican divisions took center stage. Voter participation was initially sparse but inched upward. It took Jefferson's embargo to jolt Vermonters out of their political inertia. Fifty percent more voters cast ballots for governor in 1808 than in 1807. Madison's declaration of war precipitated a similar rise in 1812. The war years contributed the highest voter turnout of the period. The two parties were evenly matched. In the years of 1813 and 1814, their candidates for governor were separated by less than 300 votes, and the parties in the General Assembly were separated by a handful of votes. Vermont's congressmen were elected by the same narrow margins.

Despite such intense party competition, very few men held statewide office. Straying from its Pennsylvania model, Vermont allowed unlimited reelection to state office and multiple office holding. From 1787 to 1825, only eight men sat in the governor's chair. Only seven men served as lieutenant governor. Just two had been elected treasurer. From 1778 to 1825, only 114 different men sat on the Executive Council, out of a possible 588 seats. Because of this, and because of their ability to hold other offices, a small group were able to wield immense influence in the state.

After the end of the war, the Federalist Party slowly dissolved, and with it voter participation. The last Federalist candidate for governor ran in 1817. The two-party system being defunct, Republican statewide candidates were chosen by caucus in the legislature and ran virtually unopposed. With no issues to divide the populace, by 1825 the number of votes for governor had dwindled to its lowest level since 1800.

Bibliography

  • Aichele, Gary. "Making the Vermont Constitution, 1777–1824." In Michael Sherman, ed. A More Perfect Union: Vermont Becomes a State, 1777–1816. Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1991, pp. 2–37.
  • Bellesilses, Michael. Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993.
  • Brynn, Edward. "Patterns of Dissent: Vermont's Opposition to the War of 1812." Vermont History, 40 (Winter 1972): 10–27.
  • Carroll, Daniel P. "Development of the Unicameral Legislature of Vermont." Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, III (1932): 12–31.
  • Crockett, Walter Hill. Vermont, The Green Mountain State. 5 vols. New York: The Century History Company, 1921–1923.
  • Gilles, Paul S. and D. Gregory Sanford, eds. Records of the Council of Censors of the State of Vermont. Montpelier: Secretary of State, 1991.
  • Graffagnino, J. Kevin. "’I saw ruin all around’ and ‘A comical spot you may depend’: Orcamus C. Merrill, Rollin C. Mallory, and the Disputed Congressional Election of 1818." Vermont History, 49 (Summer 1981): 159–168.
  • Muller, H. Nicholas III. "Early Vermont State Government: Oligarchy or Democracy? 1778–1815." In Reginald L. Cook, ed., Growth and Development of Government in Vermont. The Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences, Occasional Paper 5 (1970): 5–10.
  • ________. "Smuggling into Canada: How the Champlain Valley Defied Jefferson's Embargo." Vermont History, 38 (Winter 1970): 5–21.
  • Potash, P. Jeffrey. Vermont's Burned-Over District: Patterns of Community Development and Religious Activity, 1761–1850. Brooklyn: Carlson Publishing, 1991.
  • Roth, Randolph A. The Democratic Dilemma: Religion, Reform and the Social Order in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont, 1791–1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
  • Shaeffer, John N. "A Comparison of the First Constitutions of Vermont and Pennsylvania." Vermont History, 43 (Winter 1975): 33–43.
  • Shalhope, Robert E. Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys: The Emergence of Liberal Democracy in Vermont, 1760–1850. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).
  • Sherman, Michael, Gene Sessions, and P. Jeffrey Potash. Freedom and Unity: A History of Vermont. Barre, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 2004.
  • Smith, Donald Allen. "Green Mountain Insurgency: Transformation of New York's Forty-Year Land War." Vermont History, 64 (Fall 1996): 197–235.
  • Walton, Eliakim P., ed. Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont. 8 vols. Montpelier: J. and J. M. Poland, 1873–1880).
  • Williamson, Chilton. Vermont in Quandary: 1763–1825. Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1949.

Electoral College

Elector: A member of the Electoral College chosen by the several States to elect the President and Vice-President.

Oxford English Dictionary

See President of the United States for the votes cast by the Electoral College for President.

Historical Note: These elections were vastly different from modern day Presidential elections. The actual Presidential candidates were rarely mentioned on tickets and voters were voting for particular electors who were pledged to a particular candidate. There was sometimes confusion as to who the particular elector was actually pledged to. Prior to the 12th Amendment, electors were pledged to two candidates as there was no distinction made in the Electoral College between President and Vice-President.

1789 - 1824: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia

State Breakdown for Election of Members to the Electoral College:

Alabama: Legislature (1820), Popular Vote (1824)

Connecticut: Legislature (1789-1816), Popular Vote (1820, 1824)

Delaware: Popular Vote (1789), Legislature (1796-1824)

Georgia: Legislature (1789, 1792, 1800-1824), Popular Vote (1796)

Illinois: Popular Vote by District

Indiana: Legislature (1816, 1820), Popular Vote by District (1824)

Kentucky: Popular Vote by District

Louisiana: Legislature

Maine: Popular Vote by District

Maryland: Popular Vote (1789, 1792), Popular Vote by District (1796-1824)

Massachusetts: Popular Vote (1789-1796, 1804, 1824), Legislature (1800, 1808, 1816), Popular Vote by District (1812, 1820)

Mississippi: Popular Vote

Missouri: Legislature (1820), Popular Vote by District (1824)

New Hampshire: Popular Vote (1789-1796, 1804-1824), Legislature (1800)

New Jersey: Legislature (1789-1800, 1812), Popular Vote (1804, 1808, 1816-1824)

New York: Legislature

North Carolina: Legislature (1792, 1812), Popular Vote by District (1796-1808), Popular Vote (1816-1824)

Ohio: Popular Vote

Pennsylvania: Popular Vote (1789-1796, 1804-1824), Legislature (1800)

Rhode Island: Legislature (1792, 1796), Popular Vote (1800-1824)

South Carolina: Legislature

Tennessee: Popular Vote by District

Vermont: Legislature

Virginia: Popular Vote by District (1789-1796), Popular Vote (1800-1824)

Office Scope: Federal

Role Scope: State / District